4 ms·
Offensive can also mean something inducing disgust, as in "an offensive odor." That's actually the older usage for it. I've been reading some older novels latel
by openasocket 10y ago
Offensive can also mean something inducing disgust, as in "an offensive odor." That's actually the older usage for it. I've been reading some older novels lately and saw "offensive" used in that way a lot.
- tluyben2 10y agoHmm. That's the meaning I usually hear it used for. What other meaning are you talking about?
- openasocket 10y agoThe other meaning is referring to something that is racist/sexist/etc. I suppose technically that's still "inducing disgust" but it's different enough to be considered a separate definition. For instance, I'm offended by the state of some of the code at work, but I'm not filing an HR complaint about it :)
- lucozade 10y agoI always took that usage to come from the idea of offending one's sensibilities. That's also how I took the author's use of offensive i.e. it offended his sensibility that mid-Atlantic has two meanings (or whatever it was that he was offended by).
- openasocket 10y agoI read it as he doesn't like the accent, and doesn't like that it's associated with him. It's a joke, a pun on the two meanings of "mid-Atlantic"